s. Early in
his manhood he formed at Mantua a close friendship with Camillo Olivo,
who had been secretary to the Papal Legate, Cardinal Gonzaga of Mantua,
at Trent. During his residence in Rome between 1585 and 1587 he became
intimately acquainted with Cardinal Castagna, president of the committee
appointed for drawing up the decrees of the Council. In addition to the
information afforded by these persons, officially connected with the
transactions of the Council, Sarpi had at his command the Archives of
Venice, including the dispatches of ambassadors, and a vast store of
published documents, not to mention numerous details which in the course
of his long commerce with society he had obtained from the lips of
credible witnesses. All these sources, grasped in their diversity by his
powerful memory and animated with his vivid intellect, are worked into
an even, plain, dispassionate narration, which, in spite of the dryness
of the subject, forms a truly fascinating whole. That Sarpi was strictly
fair in his conception of the Council, can scarcely be maintained; for
he wrote in a spirit of distinct antagonism to the ends which it
achieved. Yet the more we examine the series of events described by him,
the more are we convinced that in its main features the work is just.
When Sir Roger Twysden pronounced it 'to be written with so great
moderation, learning and wisdom, as might deserve a place among the
exactest pieces of ecclesiastic story any age had produced,' he did not
overshoot the mark. Nor has the avowedly hostile investigation to which
Cardinal Pallavicini submitted it, done more than to confirm its credit
by showing that a deadly enemy, with all the arsenal of Roman documents
at his command, could only detect inaccuracies in minor details and
express rage at the controlling animus of the work.

It was Sarpi's object to demonstrate that the Council of Trent, instead
of being a free and open Synod of Christians assembled to discuss points
at issue between the Catholic and Protestant Churches, was in reality a
closely-packed conciliabulum, from which Protestants were excluded, and
where Catholics were dominated by the Italian agents of the Roman Court.
He made it clear, and in this he is confirmed by masses of collateral
proofs, that the presiding spirit of the Council was human diplomacy
rather than divine inspiration, and that Roman intrigue conducted its
transactions to an issue favorable for Papal supremacy by caref